INCREASE OF RUSSIAN POSSESSIONS 17 



of incessant failures, showed but little results at the 

 end of the eighteenth century. In the meantime the 

 colonists gradually assimilated witli the natives, and 

 took to more lucrative means of existence : hunting, 

 dog-breeding, and fishing. Dried salmon replaced 

 bread. In 1800 the increase of Russian possessions 

 in the Far East necessitated the formation of a 

 Kamchatkan regiment ; its commandant was placed 

 at the head of the administration of the district, with 

 his seat at Nijni-Kamchatsk, on the eastern coast of 

 the peninsula. This was a kind of "land militia," 

 soldiers beino' trranted concessions on condition that 

 they should build farms and grow their own corn. 

 The Russo- American Company was now in full swing; 

 in 1S03 fifteen thousand sealskins were traded out of 

 the country. The Government strongly encouraged 

 the enterprise, and fully comprehending the difficulties 

 arising from want of supplies, which had to be brought 

 z'id Siberia and Okhotsk, fitted out the first expedition 

 round the world under Krusenstern ; one of the ships 

 was destined to assist the company. Petropavlovsk 

 harbour in Avatcha Bay now became the principal 

 foothold in north-eastern waters. All the following 

 expeditions in the beginning of the nineteenth century 

 anchored off Petropavlovsk, whose harbour, together 

 with Avatcha Bay, is one of the finest, if not the finest 



